COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Senior Trevor Wall delivered for the Ursinus Men's Basketball team on Saturday afternoon at Helfferich Hall in Centennial Conference play as he scored the game-winning layup with 0.7 seconds left to defeat Swarthmore 75-73.
 
 
With the win, the Bears improved to 15-8 overall and secured a crucial Centennial Conference win to improve to 8-3 and hold an inside track to a potential home Centennial Conference Tournament first round game as the team enters the final week of the regular season. Meanwhile, the Garnet fell to 15-8 overall and 7-4 in conference play.
 
 
Wall celebrated senior day with his five fellow classmates: Will Allain, Cole Grubbs, Jaiden Jakubowski, Luke Trotta, and Marlin Wise with 18 points and seven rebounds, five assists, plus two steals. Junior Nick Nocito led all scorers with 21 points behind going 5-of-6 from three-point range and grabbed seven rebounds along with two steals. Junior Mohamed Toure was the third Bear in double-figures with 16 points, five rebounds, plus two assists.
 
 
After the Garnet opened the game with a three-pointer, the Bears reeled off 10 straight points to go up 10-3 at the 14:06-mark. Ursinus held Swarthmore without a point for a span of 5:24, but the Garnet surged back once they scored again with 12-5 run to tie the game at 15 with 10:25 left in the first half. Swarthmore took the lead back at 19-18 before the Bears ran off eight straight points to go up 27-19 at the 6:12-mark of the first half. A four-point play from sophomore Luke Nieman put the Ursinus lead in double-figures for the first time at 31-20 with 4:16 left in the first half. Swarthmore used an 11-2 run to get within two points at 33-31 but the Bears maintained their lead for the remainder of the half and went into the locker rooms up 38-35.
 
 
Ursinus opened the second half with six straight points to go up 44-35 at the 18:19-mark before a 9-2 burst by the Garnet pulled them within 46-44 just under two minutes later. Swarthmore tied the game at 51 at the 11:46-mark until the Bears answered with a 7-2 run to go up 58-52 with 9:22 left in regulation. Swarthmore scored eight unanswered to get their first lead of the second half at 60-58 with 6:50 left in the second half before five straight from the Bears gave them a 63-60 advantage. Swarthmore got five straight points of its own to go up 67-65 at the 2:37 mark, but a three-pointer from Wall gave Ursinus a 68-67 edge with 1:57 left in regulation. Wall delivered another three-pointer and a pair of free throws from Toure put Ursinus up 73-67 with exactly a minute left in the second half. Swarthmore hit a pair of free throws to make it 73-69 and a front end miss of a one-and-one for Ursinus allowed the Garnet to gain another point by a free throw to bring the score to 73-70 with 24 seconds left. The Bears got the ball back after a missed free throw from Swarthmore, but Nieman's inbound pass was intercepted, and the Garnet immediately hit a three-pointer that tied the game at 73 with 14 seconds remaining. However, it set the stage for Wall's heroics as he drove the ball down the length of the court and drove for the game-winning layup that rolled on the rim and in the basket with 0.7 seconds left. A 75-foot desperation heave from Swarthmore went high and sealed the Bears victory.
 
 
The Bears shot 39.4 percent (26-of-66) and 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from three-point range. Ursinus went 15-of-18 (83.3%) from the free throw line and held a 50-38 rebounding advantage.  Meanwhile, the Garnet shot 36.8 percent (25-of-68) from the field and 36.7 percent (11-of-30) from three-point range. Swarthmore went 12-of-17 (70.6%) from the free throw line and had four players in double-figures led by Eddie Paquette with 14 points.
 
 
Ursinus returns to action on Wednesday, February 19th as they will travel to face Muhlenberg at 6:00 p.m.